


State of Emergency

by cariad_scribe



Series: Locked-down [2]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Multi, basically me purging lockdown feels in a fic, but they're also in denial, liv and rafa are in love, this is a lockdown series, won't be canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:35:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29612277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cariad_scribe/pseuds/cariad_scribe
Summary: Rafael has a bought of bad luck, but there's some light at the end of the tunnel.
Relationships: Lucia Barba & Rafael Barba, Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Series: Locked-down [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168718
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	State of Emergency

“…which meant I somehow found myself involved in putting up the poster boards for some 4th grade classroom presentation.” Rafael told her, rubbing his tired eyes as he spoke. “Under the Sea was the topic, if you’re interested.”

“So sweet. Did you have to use a stencil or did you manage to cut out all the shapes yourself?” she teased from the other end of the phone line. He couldn’t see her of course, but he could almost picture her spinning slightly in her office chair whilst she said it.

“Freehand, obviously. If you ever need a decently adequate octopus cut out of some cheap, school craft paper, you know who to call.”

“You’re a good son,” Olivia told him. “I bet there’s not that many hot shot lawyers who’d be willing to roll their sleeves up and help their mothers at work.”

“All the other hot shot lawyers don’t have Lucia Barba as their mother,” he argued, absentmindedly flicking through the magazine she had left out on her dining room table, grateful that she wasn’t within earshot of his current conversation. “Believe me, this wasn’t done out of the goodness of my heart, it was done out of fear.”

“Sure.” Olivia replied, and he could hear the disbelief in her voice. “Doesn’t mean that the image of you in your suspenders, sitting on one of those little kid-sized chairs, is any less adorable though.”

Rafael felt his face flush. As far as flirting goes, it was pretty mild- but any compliment that came out of Olivia Benson’s mouth always felt ten times more inappropriate than it should, purely because of who she was to him.

“Those chairs did make me feel very tall. Might get one to keep at home all the time.”

She laughed at his joke, he grinned about being able to make her laugh and neither of them decided to dwell on the fact that, for the moment, his definition of ‘home’ wasn’t exactly set in stone.

When he came back to New York, his mother had tried to get him to stay with her. But her two bedroom apartment was actually a one bedroom/one home-office apartment, which meant he would have to sleep on the couch. She was still as busy as ever with her work in the charter school and her son hadn’t wanted to get under her feet. Despite her protests, Rafael had been staying in an Air Bnb in Manhattan; he couldn’t put his finger on exactly why yet, but the thought of returning to New York and going back to stay in the Bronx… it unsettled him.

It wasn’t like he was returning to his childhood home- no, that had been sold quite soon after his father had passed away, as neither he nor his mother had any affection for the place. The money from the sale had been just enough to pay off the medical bills and debts Barba Sr. had left behind, and put down a deposit on a new place for Lucia- who had outright refused any extra money from her son; _“I spent my whole adult life having my purse strings controlled by a man Rafi, what makes you think I want to be indebted to you too?”_ He couldn’t really argue with that.

Maybe being back in the Bronx felt too much like being near Alex again. That particular relationship had exploded some years ago now, but the sting of it still crept up on him every now and then. They’d known each other almost all of their lives, had run around as children and imagined what it would be like to save the world. Rafael wasn’t sure how successful either of them had been at it. Yelina still lived not that far away.

“Rafael?”

“Hmm? Sorry, what did you say?” Rafael’ mind quickly returned to the phone call he was meant to be having.

“I said when do you have to drive her to the airport?” Olivia repeated herself.

“The day after tomorrow. Why?”

“Thought maybe you’d want to come over for dinner?” she asked him. “It’ll be spaghetti night.”

Rafael was touched that she wanted him to join in on the one night she always made a point of having with Noah. That she considered him important enough.

“Once again, I’m honoured.” he replied. “Want me to bring anything?”

“No, just yourself.” There was a muffled voice distant on her end of the line and Rafael waited as she dealt with whatever it was. “Sorry Rafael, I’ve got to sit in on a disclosure, someone’s asking for me. Speak to you soon?”

“Of course, go be Captain.”

“Say hi to your mom for me.” Olivia added.

“Will do.”

~~~~

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you _Mami_ , there’s no water coming out at all now.”

“Well try again _mijo_ ; it was working fine when I left!”

Rafael bit back a sentence he was sure to regret and turn the taps once more. Once more, there was an ugly gurgling sound, but no actual running water. He wasn’t quite sure how things had gone wrong so quickly.

He’d dropped his mother off at the airport the day before, ushering her towards the departures gate (carrying a suitcase he couldn’t believe was within the weight limit) and kissed her goodbye. Then he’d driven back into the city, bought a cup of coffee and checked his emails in Central Park before being summoned to the Benson’s apartment earlier than anticipated. He’d passed a very enjoyable evening with the pair of them- had washed the dishes after dinner just to extend his visit, because he really had missed her fiercely in the time he’d been away- before turning in at his hotel room late.

He had got maybe around five hours sleep before the sound of his phone ringing woke him up with a start. When he answered, his mother immediately snapped at him to go to her house to test the taps because her downstairs neighbour Mrs Alvarez hadn’t had any hot water since the night before.

Through bleary-eyed detective work, Rafael managed to come to the very intelligent conclusion that there was something wrong with the plumbing.

“ _Dios_ , I don’t need this right now.” his mother sighed.

“ _Mami_ , you’re on vacation. Try not to worry too much about it.” he told her, shuffling out from the bathroom and going to make himself some toast. “I’ll ring the super and let you know what’s going on.”

“Mrs Alvarez is eighty-four, she needs hot water.”

“I know, I’ll check in on her after I’ve rung the super.” Rafael replied through a yawn.

“She’s got problems with her heart, y’know. Won’t be any good for her sitting in an apartment without any hot water.”

“ _Mami_ , for god’s sake please just let me deal with it? You can’t micromanage the neighbourhood from Miami.”

“You wanna bet?” she quipped.

Rafael yawned again, resting his lower half against the kitchen cupboards as he waited for the toaster to pop. He wasn’t much of a morning person.

“I promise I will let you know what’s going on as soon as I can. Go and relax.”

“Fine.” she replied shortly.

~~~~

It took Rafael an hour to get through to the building super, who then spent another hour hitting the pipes under the kitchen sink and in the bathroom, standing around scratching his head and whistling in a manner that Rafael didn’t think was entirely appropriate, considering.

“What is he doing now?” Mrs Alvarez asked him, in Spanish, from her armchair.

“Checking the pipes, Mrs Alvarez,” Rafael answered, also in Spanish, frowning at the noise of sweaty man he didn’t really trust currently rattling around in the old woman’s basement. “Any idea what’s going on?” he called out in English.

The super reappeared, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

“You got a burst pipe; probably froze over in the winter and now there’s a crack letting the water flood into the basement.”

“Flooded? How badly?” Rafael questioned.

The super shrugged. “It’s not a swimming pool down there, if that’s what you’re asking. But I’m gonna have to call some guys in to fix it.”

“What’s he saying?” Mrs Alvarez asked Rafael, still in Spanish.

“Senora Alvarez, do you have anyone you can go and stay with for a little while?” he turned to the older woman, speaking softly so as not to panic her. “I can call them for you.”

Rafael then spent the rest of the afternoon organizing Mrs Alvarez; calling her grandson to come and collect her, helping her pack some bags and promising to keep an eye on her home whilst the plumbers were doing what they could to fix the water issue. She even gave him her spare key.

His mother was less than pleased when he called to update her, but Rafael just kept reminding her that there was very little she could do about it from Miami. It was gone five o’clock by the time he got back to his Air Bnb with takeout, a bottle of scotch and a headache.

He flicked on the TV, which was in the middle of a news report. He half listened as he found a glass for his scotch and popped open the containers of Chinese food. Some news anchors were discussing the virus that was going around- about how likely it was for people to catch it and whether or not the city would be completely shutting down. Rafael didn’t pay all that much attention as he ate, until his phone dinged and he was alerted to an email from the person who’d rented out the place he was staying in;

_…unfortunately will have to shut down the listing and ask you to vacate the property at your earliest convenience…_

Shit.

~~~~

“So you’re stuck?”

“It would seem so.” Rafael replied, holding a drink in one hand and his phone in the other. “I can’t exactly get on a plane back to Iowa during a state of emergency. Besides, I promised I’d keep an eye on my mother’s house for her until she gets back.”

Olivia felt sorry for her friend; the luxury of choice was being pulled out from under him, and Rafael was never a man who enjoyed having his life managed by other people. He’d arrived uninvited (but of course not unwelcome) at her apartment earlier that evening- daring to feel sorry enough for _himself_ to need the company.

There was a part of Olivia- a secret, selfish part- that was relieved he’d got stuck in New York, rather than wherever his work was going to take him next. Of course the conditions were less than ideal, and the spread of this virus was scaring her slightly, but the fact that he was back within touching distance was something.

His rental had asked him to leave, which left him with very few places to go. He’d told her about the problems with the water in his mother’s building, which couldn’t have come at a worse time. The cogs turned in Olivia’s brain, trying her best to think of solutions to his pressing problem.

“The hotels are all closing one by one. Can’t stay at my mother’s until they fix the water.” he murmured, then groaning heavily and throwing his phone down onto the coffee table. “I shouldn’t have let out my old apartment.”

Olivia stood leaning against her breakfast bar and watched him rub his face. He had that stressed, on-edge demeanor again- the one he wore almost constantly when they used to have particularly difficult cases to take to trial. She wanted to go and comfort him somehow (a hand on his shoulder, or rubbing the back of his neck maybe), but she didn’t think she could trust herself not to do something stupid. Towards the end of their time working together, she had felt herself lose more and more of her resolve in terms of keeping her hands to herself around him. He was himself a tactile person in some respects, often placing a hand at the small of her back when going through doorways, or touching shoulders as they walked. Sometimes it was all Olivia could do not to reach out and take his hand, for no reason at all other than because she wanted to.

“Stay here.”

It turns out she was too worried about her hands, when she should have been cautious about her mouth acting before her brain could kick in.

“What?” he turned to look at her from the couch, puzzled.

“You could always stay here.”

_Dammit, she’d said it again_. And so sincerely; there was no way she could save face and pass it off as a joke.

“Liv, that’s kind of you, but I can’t impose like that.”

She felt her feet move, felt herself go to join him on the couch.

“It wouldn’t be an imposition,” she told him, shaking her head. “You’re my friend and you don’t have anywhere else to go right now. At least not until you’re mother’s apartment is fixed.”

“You have a routine, with Noah and Lucy,” he argued with her. “I’d be getting in the way of all that.”

“Never.” she replied, placing a hand on top on his on the couch cushion. “You could never be in the way.” Rafael turned to look at her, his eyes so soft and still a little hesitant. Steeling her resolve, she continued. “This couch turns into a bed, and _we_ definitely have hot running water.”

“Basically The Plaza compared to my other options at the moment.” Rafael murmured, smiling slightly. He paused, looking at their hands between them on the couch cushions. Slowly, he looked back up towards her. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” she replied, smiling (though there was a small voice at the back of her mind questioning whether that was the truth). “I mean where else are you gonna go? Carisi’s?”

“God, imagine. He’d be feeding me cannoli and asking me legal questions all the damn day.”

“Does have a certain Kathy Bates in _Misery_ vibe to it, now that I think about it.” Olivia quipped, tilting her head in mock thought. Rafael was silent again, and for a moment Olivia panicked that she was pressuring him into the situation. “Of course, I understand if you’d rather stay somewhere else. You’ve always lived alone, and spending an extended amount of time with a seven-year old isn’t exactly everyone’s idea of a good time so I completely get it if you don’t want-,”

“Liv,” Rafael interrupted. “It’s fine. I’m… touched, really that you’d offer at all. I guess, as long as you’re completely ok with me being here and considering I don’t exactly have many other options,” he paused, and took a breath. “What I’m trying to say is thank you… and yes.”

“Yes?” 

“I will accept your offer of staying here.” he repeated, smiling. “At least until I can go to my mother’s.”

Olivia sighed a little with relief, and relaxed back against the couch. She was happy he would have somewhere to stay, but even happier it was going to be with her. She watched him reach for his drink again, their hands now pulling apart from their place on the cushion- mentally figuring out how they were going to navigate the next few weeks as roommates.

**Author's Note:**

> Not a lot is happening in this one, in regards to Rafael and Olivia, but I needed to figure out why he would end up having to stay with her. The rest of the chapters will be filled with them spending time together though, so hopefully that's ok!


End file.
